Total pages in book: 214
Estimated words: 199879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 999(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199879 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 999(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
The sound is deafening to my ears.
I’m shoved to the floor, and someone sits on top of me. My scream echoes through the hall. She falls to her knees, and the man behind her laughs. “Fuck. That was poetic. True love right there.” He kicks her back, and her body falls to the cold floor.
I’m screaming her name, hoping that she responds in some way, but she lies there unmoving. The man kicks the gun out of her hand and in our direction. “For a bitch, you’ve got some balls.” He fists her hair and leans down, gently kissing her tear-streaked cheek.
Her lifeless eyes are still open, and I pray she’s just in shock. That she didn’t kill herself for me. I was the one prepared to die. It’s always been me. Not her.
“It makes me horny.” He chuckles
I try to fight, but something is on my back, pinning me to the cold, hard floor. The gun is still held to the back of my head. “Watch your bitch get fucked like the whore she is.”
“Don’t fucking touch her!” I shout so loud my throat burns afterward.
The man in front of me laughs, undoing his jeans. He pulls his dick out and spreads her legs with his, pressing his gun to the side of her bloody face. “Tell him, Ash. Tell him I’ve been fucking you every day for a week now.”
A week? Has it really been that long? Did I really fail her that badly?
She says nothing, her eyes still straight ahead.
I try to get to her, but I can’t move. It’s like something is wrong with me. My body is unable to move. Maybe it’s from being shot. “ASHTYN!” I shout, needing her to snap out of it. Fight. Do something. Show me that she’s alive.
But my chest squeezes as I watch blood all of a sudden puddle underneath her body. It drips from her nose and her lips. The side of her face smears it as he positions his dick between her spread legs, and he pushes into her with a grunt. “She’s still warm, Saint,” he adds, gripping her hair. He yanks her head up so her lifeless eyes meet mine.
I’m screaming, my body fighting the man on top of me, and I watch her body rock back and forth on the cold and hard hallway floor, unable to help her. Unable to save her. I’m a poor excuse for a man. Fucking pathetic.
“Saint?” I hear her voice, but her lips don’t move. “Saint?” More blood covers the floor. So much so that it’s almost reached me where I lie face down. “Saint?”
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I say, my throat closing up on the lie. Nothing about this is okay. “I love you, Ashtyn,” I say it more for myself than her. Fuck, she has to know that, right? She’s always been it for me. Even after she shot me. Nothing she could do to me would stop me from loving her. “I love—”
I blink, catching something out of the corner of my eye, and I look over to see Kashton standing at my desk. His eyes go to the wall that I was staring at. It was like watching a horror movie play out in front of me.
“What?” My eyes bounce around the room to see that I’m still in our office at Carnage. My hand goes to my left arm, and I run it up and down to see that I’m not covered in blood and no bullet wound of any kind. “Ashtyn?” My eyes meet him.
He lowers his eyes and shakes his head. “The guys haven’t found anything yet.”
It felt so fucking real. Watching her lie there dead while a man raped her. That feeling of helplessness was crippling.
His eyes narrow on mine. “It’s been three days, Saint.” He softens his voice. “You need some sleep before you drive yourself crazy.”
I hate to be reminded that I’ve failed her. Three days since I was sent a video of her being tortured. Three days since I thought I found her dead in the woods. Three days without my wife, and it feels like a lifetime. But he’s right. I have to take better care of myself if I’m going to be who she needs. I have to be prepared for everything and think smarter. That thought proved that she’ll need me once I find her, and I can’t be half myself. That won’t be enough.
“Haidyn?” I ask.
“He hasn’t woken up,” he answers, clearing his throat.
ASHTYN
The only sign that I still have arms is that I can look up and see my tied hands above my head. Otherwise, my arms and hands are numb. My right shoulder screams, and my legs have cramped up. I can barely breathe most of the time. I’ve cried so much that my eyes constantly burn.